HRT crisis: Now supply shortage hits more drugs

PRODUCTION problems that have hit supplies of HRT drugs are causing shortages of other medications, pharmacists warned last night.

Supplies of blood pressure pills, painkillers and epilepsy treatments have all been affected in recent months due to a ‘perfect storm’ of production issues, experts said.

It means pharmacists are regularly having to send patients back to their GP to get a different prescription because they are unable to fill them.

Around half of HRT drug brands are currently out of stock in a crisis that is hitting almost all the 200,000 British women on the medication.

Yesterday GPs said they are being ‘kept in the dark’ over the causes of the shortage as they experienced a surge in inquiries from concerned women. They also warned it is difficult to find up-to-date information on which HRT drugs are available in their local pharmacies as supplies fluctuate ‘day by day’.

Dr Hannah Short, a GP who specialises in the menopause, said: ‘I have heard from other GPs that other sectors are being affected, as well as HRT drugs. This includes certain painkillers and blood pressure drugs. One of the anti-inflammatories has also been out of stock.

‘Overall, it is a lot of drugs that are crucial to people’s lives and obviously any shortage can cause a lot of anxiety.’

Professor Helen StokesLampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘One problem is that GPs have no reliable way of knowing what is and what isn’t available in real time as our computer systems are not linked with pharmacies.’

Pharmacists warned that there were shortages ‘across the board’. Other drugs which have been affected include furosemide, irbesartan and varsarltan, which treat high blood pressure, and naproxen, an anti-inflammatory drug that is similar to ibuprofen. GPs said they have also been experiencing shortages of oral contraceptives.

Epilepsy UK also warned it has seen a sharp rise in the number of patients struggling to get medication to control seizures. These include Epanutin, Epilim, and Topamax. Scott McDougall, of The Independent Pharmacy, an online chemist, said: ‘Shortages this year have been the worst we have ever known, although HRT is by far the worst affected group of drugs.’

The pharmacist said a number of factors, including Brexit stockpiling and a European directive, had combined to cause shortages. In February, the European Medicines Agency introduced strict new rules to prevent medications being tampered with.

‘In China several factories have had to shut down because of pollution laws,’ he added. ‘This is where a lot of the raw ingredients are made.’

Good Health – Page 43